Defense first. Physical. Intimidating because of that physicality. A tight-knit locker room. Better offense than you give them credit for. They talk enough smack to piss off the establishment. Not in a top 10 market but with a passionate fan base starved for a winner.

I just described the Seattle Seahawks.

I also just described the Indiana Pacers.

The Pacers players watched the Super Bowl… well, like you they watched the first half pretty closely but by the second half were focused on the beer, chili and other people at the party. But the Pacers saw themselves in the Seahawks.

“We approach it as a physical team and we do everything from a toughness standpoint,” George said.

Then he said, “Like Seattle….

“Seattle’s got individual guys that stand out defensively, as we do, and as a group we put it all together,” George said of the Super Bowl champion Seahawks. “We’re a great comparison to that team because we do it from an individual standpoint and as a group.”

He’s not wrong.

The Pacers have long, athletic defenders on the wing like Paul George, Lance Stephenson and George Hill who will chase you off the three point line, and if you drive past them into the paint you run into the 7’2” wall that is Roy Hibbert. The Pacers allow only 18.3 three point attempts a game against them (fourth best in the NBA) and teams only shoot 33.2 percent on the shots they do take from there (second best in the NBA). The Pacers also have allowed the fewest field goal attempts in the league inside five feet and on those shots teams only shoot 52.3 percent, the lowest percentage allowed in the league.

It’s an interesting comparison George makes. We’ll see if their seasons end the same way.